It’s long overdue, but I wanted to give you all a quick update on where we are in our home renovation process. After interviewing a few contractors, we have finally made our decision and demo begins tomorrow!! We are so excited to get started. Our trip to London and Portugal, along with a lot of other travel this summer, slowed things down and it’s turned out to be a longer process than we anticipated. I thought we would have started a month ago! The process should go (rather) smoothly from here on out, considering I’ve had a lot of time to think about the specifics of what we want to do and I have a very good start on selections for each room. I decided to share before/afters from each room when they are complete, but will be sharing updates to Instagram stories! Wish us luck – we’ve never done this before!

The boys have been troopers; going to meetings, showrooms, appointments at the house, etc. William’s favorite part is stopping by the paint store and choosing yellow paint for his room… over and over. Now, I need to find a way to incorporate a tiny bit of yellow into his room- yikes!

on stia: white maxi dress // sandals

Our Home Renovation Plans

Kitchen

The kitchen is mostly cosmetic – with a few minor construction changes. We will knock down the breakfast bar and rebuild to a counter height also adding more width. I’m hoping to get five bar stools around the bar when we are done. Right now the kitchen has an island, which we have decided to remove (hence, the breakfast bar addition). The sink is very off centered right now, so we will be fixing that by installing an apron front sink and reworking the cabinetry below. The pantry is a wall pantry, full of doors, so we are going to stream line that with less doors. Add in quartz countertops, backsplash, paint, under counter lighting, hardware and cooktop and we will be done!

Master Bathroom

This room is our biggest project. We will be taking it down to the studs and rebuilding it. We aren’t moving anything around, but plan to take out the tub and put in a freestanding tub, expand the shower and add a new shower fixture, install a new vanity, faucets, sinks and countertop, install new mirrors, add in new lighting (love these sconces!) and replace all tile, etc! The bathroom isn’t huge, and as a result the shower is tiny, so we are hoping to make the space more functional- at least so Caleb can raise his arms to wash his hair!

Boys’ Bathroom

The boys will be sharing a bathroom in the hall just off their rooms. This isn’t a huge project as it’s really just cosmetic. We will be replacing the tile on the bathroom floor and shower wall tile, installing a new shower fixture and repainting the vanity. We’ll also add new sinks, faucets and countertop! I plan on wallpapering this room. I’m still searching for that perfect paper!

Flooring

The entire house needs new flooring. We will be installing hardwoods in every area except the bedrooms, closets and bathrooms. The stairs are carpeted and they are right off the breakfast room, so we are going to install hardwood on those, with white risers.

Family Room

The only major change in here is the fireplace area. Right now, it’s set up for a TV to the right side of the fireplace, but we’ve decided to lower our mantle and place the TV above the fireplace. We plan to rework the cabinetry to the right side to make it more functional. There is wall in the family room that we will be knocking down. We found out that it’s load bearing, but we still want to take it down. Removing it will open up the whole house!

Paint

The whole house will have new paint and we’re taking down all existing wall paper too.

Lighting

I’m looking for light fixtures for our breakfast room, dining room, entry and bathrooms, as all existing light fixtures will be taken out. We will be adding can lights to the study and dining room. There are currently no lights in the dining room at all!

And, Phase 2

We have a long list to complete before we move in, but we are already talking about phase two! This includes: updating the upstairs bathroom, adding in a counter in the laundry room and improving the backyard- I’m thinking outdoor fireplace and kitchen, a large deck, etc… Caleb is thinking… oh, no!

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine